Contents

Excavations

When land was being prepared for a new housing estate, worked
flints were brought to the surface and a year later excavations
began. In 1973 Peter Woodman and his team of archaeologists began
what seemed a routine investigation only to discover – after the
carbon-dating of charred hazelnut shells – that human beings had
dwelt here between 7000 and 6,500 BC. The generally accepted date
of the arrival of people in Ireland had been put back by more than
a thousand years. In an artificially enlarged hollow the remains of
four large huts were found.[3]

The excavations explored a relatively large area of almost 700m
and while traces of activity, such as pits and hearths were
scattered over the site, the most significant discovery was an
occupation area (10m x 7m) containing hut remains. Mount Sandel is
situated on a rise overlooking the west bank of the River Bann. The river
would have been a source of salmon and eels for the early
inhabitants of the area. This diet would have been supplemented by
wild pigs and hares.

Woodman found evidence of up to seven structures, at least four
of which may represent buildings. Six of the structures are
circular huts of 6m (about 19ft) across, with a central interior
hearth. The seventh structure is smaller, only 3m in diameter
(about 9ft). The huts were made of bent saplings, inserted into the
ground in a circle, and then covered over, probably with thatch. In
the centre of the huts a scooped out hollow in the ground served as
a fireplace.[4]

The 1973 excavations found that there were round huts about 6m
across with central hearths. The hearths and pits contained fish
bones, bird bones and hazel nut shell. Fragments of mammal bones
were comparatively rare. The occupation layers and the pits also
contained very large quantities of Mesolithic implements, notably
several hundred microliths, some axes and a fragment of a bone
point.[5] During
excavations in 1974, the nearly complete plan of a hut was
recovered. This was of a similar type to those found during 1973,
circular with a central hearth and about 6m across, although not
set in a slight hollow like the previous examples. Some faunal
remains were recovered but the pits were not as rich as those found
earlier, although large numbers of geometric microliths, occasional
core and flake axes were recovered.[6]

Radiocarbon dates at the site show that Mount Sandel is one of
the earliest human occupations in Ireland, first occupied around
7000 BC. Stone tools recovered from the site include a huge variety
of microliths (tiny stone flakes and tools),
including flint axes, needles, scalene triangle-shaped microliths,
pick-like tools, backed blades and a few hide scrapers. Although
preservation at the site was not very good, one hearth included
some bone fragments and hazel nuts. A series of marks on the ground
are interpreted as a fish-drying rack, and other diet items may
have been eel, mackerel, red deer, game birds, wild pig, shellfish,
and an occasional seal. The site may have been occupied year-round,
but if so, the settlement was tiny, including no more than fifteen
people at a time, which is quite small for a group subsisting on
hunting and gathering. By 6000 BC, Mount Sandel was abandoned to
later generations.[1] This
is classified as an Early Mesolithic site.[4]

Flint had to be carried from as far away as the beaches of Portrush in County Antrim and
Downhill in County
Londonderry. At a tool working area to the west of the hollow,
flint cores were roughed out and fashioned into picks and axes,
while the smaller blades struck from them were shaped into knives,
arrowheads, hide scrapers, awls and harpoon flakes. One axe had
traces of red ochre on its surface, which gives a hint that these
people painted themselves on ceremonial occasions.[3]

Artefacts

The artefacts from Mount Sandel, the oldest settlement site in
Ireland, excavated in the 1970s, are in the Ulster Museum.
During the excavation circular houses, hearths, rubbish and
storages pits, and flint-working areas were discovered. These first
hunter-gatherers used very distinct stone tools called microliths.
Other types of tools included flint and stone.[7] Flint
waste and implements were abundant on the site, totalling up to
44,386 artefacts, 3.3% of them being finished or retouched
tools.[8]